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It's Work Your Proper Hours Day. How much are you losing in free work?

We gave our employers an astonishing £33.6 billion worth of free work last year in the UK, by doing unpaid overtime. More than 5.3 million people put in an average of 7.7 hours a week, over and above their contracted hours, during 2016.

To mark that fact, 24 Feb 2017 is Work Your Proper Hours Day. If you add up the hours we work for free at the start of the year, that means the average person doing unpaid overtime only starts earning for themselves on 24 Feb.

And all that time certainly does add up. People who do unpaid overtime are missing out on an average of £6,301 that their extra hours would net them if paid at their contracted rate.

We've made a special calculator to help you find out how much YOU might be losing. Give it 2 minutes and it might give you a shock!

Few of us mind putting in some extra time when it’s needed. But if it happens all the time and gets taken for granted, that’s a problem. So, have a think about your work life balance, and for a change take a proper lunch break and leave on time to enjoy your own time in the evening.

The best bosses understand that a long-hours culture doesn’t get good results. Managers should lead by example today, and also think about how they can move away from over-reliance on their staff’s unpaid overtime.

And of course, anyone worried about the long-hours culture in their workplace should get together with workmates and join a union. That way you can get your voices heard and get the support you need to make sure your boss doesn’t break the rules.